The principal city of the Lafayette-Acadiana, LA Combined Statistical Area, which, in 2006,
had an estimated total population of 537,947.

The city was founded as Vermilionville in 1821 by a French-speaking Acadian named Jean
Mouton. In 1884, it was renamed for the Marquis de Lafayette, who assisted the United States during its Revolutionary
War. The city's economy was primarily based on agriculture until the 1940s, when the petroleum and natural gas industry became dominant.

Lafayette has a strong tourism industry, attracted by the Cajun and Creole cultures of the surrounding region. It has one of the highest numbers of restaurants per capita of any U.S. city.

Houma
was named for the Houma Indians who lived in the area.Houma and the surrounding communities are steeped in Cajun
tradition and culture and is nicknamed the "Venice of America." It
is 57 miles from New Orleans.The area is famous for its food, fishing,
swamps, music, and hospitality. Houma is also known, although not as
well as New Orleans, for its Mardi Gras
festivities. Although Houma is quickly changing and developing, many of
the residents in the surrounding small communities continue to make
their living as their ancestors did. They are shrimpers, oystermen, crabbers, fishermen,
and trappers. Despite the rapidly changing face of the area, many
long-standing traditions and lifestyles remain to remind one of the
area's rich cultural history.In March, there is a Calling of the tribes Powwow.
In April there is the Blessing of the Shrimp Fleet.In Sept thyere
is the Grand Bois Inter-Tribal.

Thibodaux
is a small city located on the banks of Bayou Lafourche in northwestern Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. The
city has a long history with many early settlers from France, germany
and Islenos.The population was 14,431 at the 2000 census.
Thibodaux is nicknamed "Queen City of Lafourche."

The city of St. Martinville is the parish seat of St. Martin Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Bayou Teche, sixteen miles south of Breaux Bridge, eighteen miles southeast of Lafayette, and nine miles north of New Iberia. St.
Martinville attracted a stream of French speaking immigrants during
its heyday in the 1700's and 1800's .In addition to Cajuns there
were royalists who fled France after the French revolution and later
Napoleon's followers .
Once New Orleans
was founded and knew epidemics, some New Orleanians escaped the city
and came to St Martinville. Its nickname, Petit Paris ("Little Paris"),
dates from the era when St. Martinville was known as a cultural mecca
with good hotels and a French Theater which featured the best operas
and witty comedies. The third oldest town in Louisiana shows today many
buildings and homes with beautiful architecture, such as the historic
St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church (dedicated to St Martin de Tours, in France, where a St Martin de Tours church can be found, as well as in Layrac,
France, birthplace of Pierre Nezat who settled in 1768 in St
Martinville) and La Maison Duchamp on Main Street. St. Martinville is
also site of the Evangeline Oak made famous in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem.

A 1929 painting of Evangeline and Gabriel by Bayou Teche in St. Martinville.

Evangeline waited in vain for Gabriel after the expulsion from Nova Scotia. They did not meet again until they were old.

Settled
by the Spanish in 1779, the town peospered with the nearby sugarcane
plantations. There is a Cycle Main St bike tour in early May. The
Sugarcane festival is held in Sept. In mid Oct there is the World
Championship Gumbo Cookoff.

The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. The Atchafalaya is unique among basins because it has
a growing delta system with nearly stable wetlands